Formula 3.5 V8

Swedish Formula Renault 3.5 newcomer Gustav Malja has lost his front row qualifying position for Saturday afternoon's opening race of the season at Aragon. Malja's Strakka car encountered a ride-height issue in post-qualifying technical checks after going second fastest, and will start from the back of the grid for race one. Strakka chief engineer Mike Henderson explained: "The floor was very sli...

Lotus Formula 1 Junior driver Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed the first pole position of the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 season at Aragon, underlining that his outstanding pre-season testing pace was representative. The Frenchman moved ahead of Swedish rookie Gustav Malja by just 0.025 seconds, thanks to a final lap effort of 1m41.446s as the chequered flag was shown. Fortec's Oliver Rowland secured thir...

Pre-season pacesetter Matthieu Vaxiviere transferred his testing form into Friday practice for the Formula Renault 3.5 opener at Aragon. The Lotus Formula 1 Junior driver was quickest on both high-downforce in free practice one, and the mandatory low-downforce settings in the afternoon session. Vaxiviere recorded a lap of 1m42.013s in the morning to hold off Swedish newcomer Gustav Malja's Strakk...

Comtec Racing will miss the opening Formula Renault 3.5 meeting at Aragon this weekend. The team had hoped to run 2013 GP3 runner-up Facu Regalia for round one. The Argentinian came onto the driver market at a late stage, having been unable to complete his planned deal with Zeta Corse, for which he had tested extensively over the winter. Comtec's negotiations with Regalia had progressed to an adv...

Race-winning Formula Renault 3.5 team Zeta Corse is set to miss this weekend's opening round at Aragon. The Russian-owned team ran current Manor Formula 1 Roberto Merhi during his FR3.5 title bid last year. Despite Merhi taking three victories as he challenged DAMS driver Carlos Sainz Jr. for the crown, Zeta Corse has been unable to secure two fully funded drivers for the 2015 season. A source cl...

Matthieu Vaxiviere remained in command at Aragon as the final pre-season Formula Renault 3.5 test concluded on Tuesday with a day reserved for running the series' low-downforce setup. The Lotus protege recorded his fastest time of 1m40.662s during the morning session, to extend his run of quickest times to a third consecutive session after dominating Monday. Dean Stoneman broke the Charouz-run dr...

Lotus Formula 1 junior driver Matthieu Vaxiviere set the fastest time in both sessions of the first day of the final Formula Renault 3.5 pre-season test at Motorland Aragon. Vaxiviere recorded a fastest lap of 1m41.331s in the morning session, before improving to 1m40.635s in the afternoon. "This morning, we did a good job with our race settings before fine tuning the set-up for fast laps," said ...

Manor Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi has committed to a demanding travel schedule in order to contest Monday's Formula Renault 3.5 test at Aragon straight after the Malaysian Grand Prix. Alongside his F1 commitments, Spaniard Merhi has elected to participate in a concurrent FR3.5 campaign for Pons Racing this season. The final pre-season FR3.5 test has acquired additional importance given the fir...

Manor driver Roberto Merhi intends to honor his deal to race for Pons in Formula Renault 3.5 alongside his Formula 1 commitments. Merhi was announced as Manor's second driver for at least the "opening rounds" of the 2015 F1 season this week, shortly after securing a return to FR3.5, where he was a title contender last year. The Spaniard said that regardless of how long-term his Manor presence ult...

Strakka Racing's Formula Renault 3.5 rookie Tio Ellinas topped his second successive day of testing at Jerez on Friday. The Cypriot recorded a quickest lap of 1m28.260s during the morning session, while Frenchman Matthieu Vaxiviere headed the timing screens in the afternoon thanks to a lap of 1m28.759s. The second day of FR3.5 testing was officially set aside for teams to run and hone the series'...

Lotus Formula 1 junior Marlon Stockinger will switch from Formula Renault 3.5 to GP2 in 2015, after signing as Status Grand Prix's first driver in the series. Stockinger raced for the team in GP3 in 2012 and returns for its first GP2 campaign, following Status's takeover of Caterham Racing late last year. The 23-year-old driver claimed a pair of FR3.5 podiums in 2014 on his way to ninth in the st...

Jazeman Jaafar will remain in Formula Renault 3.5 for a third season in 2015, moving to Fortec to partner Oliver Rowland. Jaafar drove for Carlin and ISR in his previous FR3.5 campaigns, taking three podium finishes so far and 10th in last year's championship, before testing for Fortec during the off-season. "I had a really good test with the team in the winter, settling in really quickly and est...

Former Caterham Formula 1 test driver Roberto Merhi will return to Formula Renault 3.5 in 2015 with the Pons Racing team. The Spaniard, who took part in the first practice sessions at the Italian, Japanese and Russian Grands Prix with Caterham, was an FR3.5 title contender with Zeta Corse last season. Although Merhi said at the end of 2014 that his preference was to move on from FR3.5, he has now...

Oscar Tunjo has aborted his plans to drive for Pons Racing in Formula Renault 3.5 this year. The Colombian joined the Spanish team for round four of the 2014 campaign, in a deal that included a full season for '15. However, the team announced on Monday that Tunjo has had to back out of the deal. "Pons Racing and Oscar Tunjo have mutually decided to end their collaboration," said a team statement....

Former GP2 driver Facu Regalia will join Zeta Corse for his debut season in Formula Renault 3.5 this year. The Argentinean was eventual champion Daniil Kvyat's closest title challenger in GP3 two seasons ago, before graduating to GP2 with Hilmer Motorsport in 2014. Regalia parted company with Hilmer after the fourth round of the season at the Red Bull Ring in June. "Following seven months of inte...